Customs agents satisfied with WeBOC

Staff Reporter

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - Islamabad—Leading customs clearing agents of Karachi have shown their satisfaction over the working of the indigenously developed automated customs clearance system - Web Based One Custom (WeBOC) - at Qasim International Container Terminal, Port Qasim Karachi.

One of the Karachi-based customs clearing agents said that initially the system has smoothly cleared all consignments of industrial units. The big industrial units are documented having clean tax profiles and their consignments have been cleared under the newly launched system of WeBOC. We have not faced any difficulty while swathing from PaCCS to WeBOC in clearance of industrial consignments, he said.

He added that the real test of the WeBOC would be at the time when consignments of commercial importers would be cleared under the new system. So far, the industrial importers are not facing any problem in clearance of consignments under the WeBOC.

He pointed out that the FBR should extend the facility of filing of goods declaration (GD) before the arrival of shipment in case of WeBOC, as the same facility was available under the PaCCS. This would be instrumental in saving time of importers in clearance of consignments, Saud added.

Another customs clearance agent on the condition of anonymity said that the WeBOC has shown remarkable results and the system is smoothly clearing consignments of industrial concerns. The whole process of clearance of consignments starting from filing of GD to clearance has shown error free functioning. It is expected that the new system would continue to clear consignments.

The FBR has rolled out its own automated customs clearance system namely Web Based One Custom (WeBOC) at Qasim International Container Terminal, Port Qasim Karachi. In this regard SRO 851(I)/2011 dated 17-09-2011 was issued by FBR. The new system has replaced Pakistan Customs Clearance System (PaCCS).

The implementation has been quite smooth and three vessels arriving at QICT has so far filed their cargo manifests in WeBOC. More than 1200 import and export Goods Declarations have been filed in WeBOC since its implementation on September 23, 2011.